Attributing Users to Audience Segments

1. A method of generating a media stream, the method comprising: iteratively adjusting media content included in a media stream based on evaluation of messages provided to a data management platform by a client device over time, wherein iteratively adjusting includes: receiving over time, at a data management platform, messages including indications that a user associated with a user client device has played out particular media items included in a media stream, the messages generated by the user client device in response to encountering contextual markers integrated within spot blocks adjacent to the particular media items in the media stream, the contextual markers including information related to advertisement content included in the spot blocks and to the particular media items; in response to receipt of the messages, recording, in a memory, an association between the user and the particular media items; identifying, by the data management platform, at least one audience segment associated with the particular media items; generating segment association information, the segment association information associating the user with the at least one audience segment, based, at least in part, on the association between the user and the particular media items and the association between the particular media items and the at least one audience segment; transmitting the segment association information from the data management platform to an advertisement server, the advertisement server configured to iteratively refine a targeting specificity of advertisement content provided to a streaming server by the advertising server; and generating, at the streaming server a media stream including spot blocks, the spot blocks including the advertisement content provided by the advertising server and the contextual markers.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: incrementing an instance counter describing a number of instances the user has been associated with the particular media item by a value of one; and associating the user with the audience segment if the instance counter meets a preset threshold value.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: determining a recency associated with at least some of the instances the user has been associated with the particular media item; and associating the user with the audience segment if the instance counter meets the preset threshold value, and the recency of the at least some of the instances the user has been associated with the particular media item meets a preset threshold time indicator.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining a size of an audience of the particular media item based on both passive and active behavioral events, wherein the passive behavioral events are determined using attribution based on contextual markers included in media streams, and active behavioral events are determined based on user activities.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: inserting the contextual markers into the media stream at a streaming media server.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: configuring a mobile device to generate calls to the data management platform in response to the mobile device detecting the contextual markers.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: associating the user with at least one audience segment based on data derived from a station start, data derived during passive station playback, data derived from web page views, and data derived from user interactions.

8. A system comprising: a server device configured to implement a streaming media server, the streaming media server configured to: integrate contextual markers into spot blocks of a media stream, the spot blocks positioned adjacent to particular media items included in the media stream; transmit the media stream, including the contextual markers, to a content distribution network for delivery to a user client device associated with a user, wherein the contextual marker identifies the particular media items adjacent to the spot blocks into which the contextual markers are integrated; and a data management platform configured to: receive from the user client device, messages including indications that the user client device has played out particular media items identified by the contextual markers; in response to receipt of the messages, record in a memory, an association between the user and the particular media items; identify at least one audience segment associated with the particular media items; generate segment association information, the segment association information associating the user with the at least one audience segment, based, at least in part, on the association between the user and the particular media items and the association between the particular media items and the at least one audience segment; transmit the segment association information to an advertisement server, the advertisement server configured to iteratively refine a targeting specificity of advertisement content provided to the streaming media server by the advertising server; and the streaming media server further configured to generate a media stream including spot blocks, the spot blocks including the advertisement content provided by the advertising server and the contextual markers.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the data management platform is further configured to: increment an instance counter describing a number of instances the user has been associated with the particular media item by a value of one; and associate the user with the audience segment if the instance counter meets a preset threshold value.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data management platform is further configured to: determine a recency associated with at least some of the instances the user has been associated with the particular media item; and associate the user with the audience segment if the instance counter meets the preset threshold value, and the recency of the at least some of the instances the user has been associated with the particular media item meets a preset threshold time indicator.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the data management platform is further configured to: determine a size of an audience of the particular media item based on both passive and active behavioral events, wherein the passive behavioral events are determined using attribution based on contextual markers included in media streams, and active behavioral events are determined based on user activities.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the streaming media server is further configured to: insert the contextual markers into the media stream.

13. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a client device configured to: generate the indications in response to detecting the contextual markers.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the data management platform is further configured to: transmit information indicating an association between the user and the audience segment to an ad server.

15. A data management platform comprising: a network interface configured to receive, over time, from a user client device of a user, messages including indications that the user client device has played out particular media items included in a media stream, the messages generated by the user client device in response to encountering contextual markers integrated within spot blocks adjacent to the particular media items in the media stream, the contextual markers including information related to advertisement content included in the spot blocks and to the particular media items; a processor and associated memory coupled to the network interface, the processor and associated memory configured, in response to receipt of the messages, to: record in a memory an association between the user and the particular media items; identify at least one audience segment associated with the particular media items; increment an instance counter describing a number of instances the user has been associated with the particular media item by a value of one; and generate segment association information, the segment association information associating the user with the at least one audience segment based, at least in part, on the association between the user and the particular media item and the association between the particular media item and the at least one audience segment; and transmitting the segment association information from the data management platform to an advertisement server, the advertisement server configured to iteratively refine a targeting specificity of advertisement content provided to a streaming server by the advertising server based on the segment association information.

16. The data management platform of claim 15 , wherein the processor and associated memory are further configured to: associate the user with the audience segment if the instance counter meets a preset threshold value.

17. The data management platform of claim 15 , wherein the processor and associated memory are further configured to: determine a recency associated with at least some of the instances the user has been associated with the particular media item; and associate the user with the audience segment if the instance counter meets a preset threshold value, and the recency of the at least some of the instances the user has been associated with the particular media item meets a preset threshold time indicator.

18. The data management platform of claim 15 , wherein the processor and associated memory are further configured to: determine a size of an audience of the particular media item based on both passive and active behavioral events, wherein the passive behavioral events are determined using attribution based on contextual markers included in media streams, and active behavioral events are determined based on user activities.

19. The data management platform of claim 15 , wherein the indications include notifications generated by and received from a mobile device in response to the mobile device detecting the contextual markers.

20. The data management platform of claim 15 , wherein the processor and associated memory are further configured to: associate the user with at least one audience segment based on data derived from a station start, data derived during passive station playback, data derived from web page views, and data derived from user interactions.